Category: From Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – 

Jan. 21, 2025 – Mel Pohl, MD, DFASAM is a Family Practitioner and the Senior Medical Consultant to the Pain Recovery Program at The Pointe Malibu Recovery Center in Malibu, California. He is the author of several books including The Pain Antidote – Stop Suffering from Chronic Pain, Avoid Addiction to Painkillers, and Reclaim Your Life.

CONTINUE@AddictionRecoveryeBulletin

The post Person of the Week: Mel Pohl appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

VIDEO – MUSICAL INTERLUDE –

1961- 7,995,592 views  as of Jul 30, 2013,  In the 1961 film version, Anita, played by Rita Moreno, still sings in favor of the United States while Bernardo, played by George Chakiris, replies with corresponding criticisms of America and American ethnic prejudice, especially against Puerto Ricans (“Life is alright in America/If you’re all White in America”) In the original stage version, Anita – the girlfriend of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks, and the most important female character after Maria – praises America while a fellow Puerto Rican, Rosalia, supports Puerto Rico.[1] This version of the song deprecates the island and highlights the positive qualities of American life (“I’ll drive a Buick through San Juan/If there’s a road you can drive on”). The irony of this supposedly pro-American number, however, is its vibrantly Hispanic musical style.

CONTINUE@YouTube

The post America! West Side Story  appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

CHOICE OR CHANCE OR GRACE – 

Jan. 15, 2025 – A recent analysis published by CBC News concluded that there is no clear evidence showing efficacy for forced treatment for individuals suffering from addiction disorders. “There is a lack of high-quality evidence to support or refute involuntary treatment for [substance use disorders],” concluded the report. “More research is needed to inform health policy.”

In addition, criticisms of involuntary drug addiction treatment also noted that implementing involuntary treatment for substance addiction would require a province to amend its healthcare consent legislation. “We have to be realistic about the fact that addiction is a chronic disorder,” said Dr. Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, who was also chair of Alberta’s expert advisory panel on addiction recovery. “When we talk [about] forcing people into treatment, we should remember there aren’t really many people who would be just spontaneously waking up in a tent and saying, ‘I don’t want ever to use fentanyl ever again.’”

Finally, health experts and opponents of involuntary addiction treatment have also cited the lack of existing resources for voluntary treatment. “We have this massive disparity between the number of people who are referred to treatment and the capacity of the treatment system to meet that demand,” said Dan Werb, executive director of the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. “The scientific evidence to support [involuntary treatment] as an effective approach just simply isn’t there.”

CONTINUE@Datac

The post No Evidence of Benefits of Forced Addiction Work Farms  appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

MURDERERS? – 

Jan. 17, 2025 – Filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the complaint says the drugstore chain’s pharmacists filled controlled substance prescriptions with clear red flags that indicated they were highly likely to be unlawful. Walgreens also systematically pressured pharmacists to fill prescriptions without taking the time to confirm their validity.

The lawsuit says Walgreens filled “unlawful” prescriptions in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act and sought reimbursement from federal health care programs for them in violation of the False Claims Act.

Walgreens, one of the country’s largest pharmacy chains, with over 8,000 locations, said in a statement that it stands behind its pharmacists. It said they say fill legitimate prescriptions for Food and Drug Administration-approved medications written by Drug Enforcement Administration-licensed prescribers in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.

CONTINUE@ABCNews

The post Walgreens Filled Millions of Illegitimate Prescriptions for Opioids and other Drugs  appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

A WORLD INSANE – 

Jan. 21, 2025  – Journalist Naomi Klein and trauma expert Dr. Gabor Maté explore the complex intersection of collective trauma, political power, and memory. Drawing from Naomi’s recent analysis of how trauma has been weaponized in current conflicts, and Gabor’s deep understanding of trauma’s psychological impacts, their conversation examines how media narratives and political rhetoric weaponize fear and trauma to gain public support for military and political crimes. The discussion will address the troubling speed at which the Oct 7 Jewish trauma is now converted into a spectacle through virtual reality experiences, museum exhibitions, and immersive memorials, while questioning who gets to control these narratives and to what end. Together, they will explore alternatives for remembering that might lead toward healing rather than perpetuating cycles of violence.

CONTINUE@Science&Nonduality

The post Join Naomi Klein & Gabor Maté TODAY Jan. 21 @ 10am PT on “Weaponizing Trauma for War” appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

A STAR IS REBORN – 

Jan. 12, 2025 – New year, new me’ and all of that is really at that crucial point now where people start to drop off or, people start to really hold on.

Often included in those resolutions is drink less alcohol, to have a crack at Dry January or to go fully sober for the long-run.

There’s various reasons why you might be ditching drink, with sobriety advocates recently revealing to LADbible how alcohol took away their ‘hopes and dreams’ and how sobriety had an impact on their ADHD. So, here’s a look at some of the other stars who explained how their lives improved after going sober.

CONTINUE@LADBible

The post A-list Celebrities Explain Improved Lives After Getting Sober appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

MAGGIE’S FARM? – 

Jan. 18, 2025 – In dark bluejeans and work shirt, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood in a Texas farm field, faced a camera and outlined his plan to combat drug addiction. “I’m going to bring a new industry to these forgotten corners of America, where addicts can help each other recover from their addictions,” he said in a documentary, “Recovering America: A Film About Healing Our Addiction Crisis.”

“We’re going to build hundreds of healing farms where American kids can reconnect to America’s soil, where they can learn the discipline of hard work that rebuilds self-esteem and where they can master new skills,” he continued.

As Mr. Kennedy prepares for his confirmation hearings to become federal health secretary, he has faced intense focus for his views of vaccines, the pharmaceutical industry, nutrition and chronic disease. But there has been little discussion of his ideas to address the drug crisis, one of the country’s deadliest problems, which he refers to as a “plague.”

CONTINUE@NYTimes

The post Plan for the Drug Crisis: A Network of Hundreds of ‘Healing Farms’  appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

KILLING TO MAKE A KILLING? – 

Jan. 13, 2025 – “Preying on consumers suffering from addiction and other substance use disorders is wrong, and it’s illegal,” said  Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The use of deceptive online ads to trick consumers into selecting one clinic over another is unacceptable, and the Commission will continue taking action against clinics, marketers, and others in this space, as well as their executives, when they break the law.”

According to the complaint, Evoke tricked consumers into contacting Evoke’s call center by using deceptive Google search ads that appeared to be from the specific substance use disorder treatment clinics searched for by consumers. Evoke targeted consumers who were searching on their mobile phones not only by using the specific names of other clinics as keywords but also prominently displayed the names of those other clinics in the Google ads in a format that impersonated the searched-for clinics.

When consumers clicked on or dialed the telephone number in those ads, Evoke funneled them to their own telemarketers. Evoke’s telemarketers continued the deception, typically by falsely claiming that consumers had reached a centralized admissions office or addiction treatment hotline, rather than a call center associated with Evoke. Even when callers indicated clearly that they sought a different, specific treatment clinic, the telemarketers consistently reinforced the callers’ misimpressions created by Evoke’s deceptive ads, for example by falsely claiming to have a relationship with the other clinic.

CONTINUE@FTC

The post Federal Trade Commission Sues Evoke Wellness’s Top Executives For Deception, Using Google Ads & Telemarketing to Masquerade As Other Clinics appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

“Negativity is the enemy of creativity.” – David Lynch, Jan. 20, 1946 – Jan. 16, 2025

The post Quote of the Week – David Lynch appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

A VISION OF LIFE –

Jan. 2, 2025 – Every Friday after work was a write-off: Let’s get drunk and have a good time. I didn’t have bad experiences, but I would drink enough so that I would ruin my next day,” he explained, apparently adding that the aftereffects of his weekend drinking were intense enough that he talked to his doctor about his liver health.

According to the Men’s Health profile, Holland “found his first month of sobriety unsettlingly difficult,” and shared that one particular night out with his brother made him decide to commit to a longer stretch of sobriety than he’d initially planned. Although Holland had driven himself and his brother for the poker night they were attending, he felt like he needed a drink to enjoy himself and found himself asking his brother if he would be willing to drive them home so that he could drink—a move that surprised his brother and served as something of a wakeup call for Holland.

CONTINUE@MarieClaire

The post Tom Holland Talk About “Eye-Opening Moment” and His Commitment to Sobriety appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.